HOTD: Humanity
by Ryou Ryuu
Summary: The world is ending, the outbreak begins. Humanities final stand and nobody wants to cooperate. One group of teens fights for survival. OC's please.
1. OC Form

HEY! I'M BACK, It's been far too long. I'm starting a new story, if you're a reader of my old HOTD story then I hope you enjoy this, if you're new to my writing then I hope you like it. So here's what's gonna happen, I will be using ONE OC of my own and ONLY 7 (4 girls, 3 guys) more sent in by you, These will be the main characters. Other OC's MAY be used in later chapters as a small side character or otherwise so it's still worth sending them in. The form is below and I hope you all create brilliant characters for me to use. Be as descriptive as you like. I will try to update this regularly about once or twice a month depending on my exams, schoolwork and social life.

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Name:

Nickname(s):

Age/ birthdate:

Gender:

Hair Colour and Style:

Eye Colour:

Preferred Clothing (Outfits may change):

Distinguishing marks/ features:

Hobbies:

Personality:

History:

Preferred Primary Weapon:

Preferred Secondary Weapon:

Love Interest:

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NOW THEN! Here's another thing I'd like you to do, I have created multiple characters before and basically have a whole bank ready to use but as a result I don't know which one to use! If you could read the character descriptions below and tell me which one you'd like to see most in the story I'd really appreciate it. ALSO I'd like to know if you want me to write the story from first person (POV's will alternate) or third person. Here are my own characters.

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Name: Ryou Katsu

Nickname: Ry

Age/ birthdate(dd/mm/yy): 17 07/07/1995

Gender: Male

Hair Colour/ Style: White, Short and spiked out.

Eye Colour: Icy blue

Preferred Clothing: Black Jeans, White t-shirt, open black shirt, necklace, Black boots, ring.

Distinguishing marks/ features: Scar across chest

Hobbies: Kendo, archery, climbing

Personality: Cold hearted at first, kind to friends, sarcastic, easily angered, stubborn, speaks his mind.

History: Lost his twin brother and parents in a house fire at the age of 8, he was taken in by a friends family and has lived with them since, his younger sister was taken by social services, hasn't seen her since.

Primary weapon: Crowbar, Katana.

Secondary weapon: Knife, other short sharp objects.

Love interest: Female

* * *

Name: Nero Corsal

Nickname: N

Age: 16 05/03/1997

Gender: Male

Hair Colour and Style: Black, mid-length, covers left eye

Eye Colour: Hazel

Preferred Clothing: Jeans, plain low neck top, black and red lining trench coat, fingerless gloves.

Distinguishing marks/ features: None

Hobbies: Singing, playing guitar.

Personality: Cheerful, always tries to cheer people around him up, easily spaces out, likes people who can keep his attention.

History: Rich family, started playing guitar at age 5, formed a band with 4 friends at the age of 14 and managed to get a record deal at age 15 with a small company, released one album before outbreak

Preferred Primary Weapon: Bow and arrows, sniper.

Preferred Secondary Weapon: None

Love Interest: Female.

* * *

Name: Raen Koshibika

Nickname(s): None

Age: 17 01/04/1996

Gender: Male

Hair Colour and Style: Light blue hair, scarlet tips. Mid length, scruffy

Eye Colour: Forest green

Preferred Clothing: Jeans, t-shirts, bracelet

Distinguishing marks/ features: Chain tattoo upper left arm

Hobbies: None

Personality: Shy, tends to stay away from people, untrusting, lazy, determined.

History: Bullied as a child, stayed away from people. Rough parents, neglected, looked after himself since age 9, Parents barely aware of his existence

Preferred Primary Weapon: Swords, pipes.

Preferred Secondary Weapon: Homemade/modded weapons of any type

Love Interest: Female.

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SO! They're the 3 characters I might use, if you could all vote for one that'd be really helpful. That's it for now, send in your OC's. Story will begin when I have decided on 3 OC's others will be introduced after a few chapters. Any questions PM me, submit OC's via review or PM I don't mind. I hope to see you soon. Sayonara!


	2. Outbreak

**A/N: So here goes, a new story. Thanks to everyone who sent there OC's in so quickly, It took much less time than I thought to get enough characters. All 7 OC's have been picked and I'll be using Ryou for mine as the majority voted for him. I'm sorry I couldn't accept everyone's character but I wanted to do them justice and I'd be happy to use any character as a side character for later on in the story. Before I start I'd like to give credit to the creators of the main OC's.**

**Thomas Commandan - sent by Tbroome535**

**Carlos Balestida - sent by Carlos-sama**

**Kevin Walker - sent by Leonlink**

**Clementine Akiharo - sent by XDreamKillerX**

**Alexandra Grimm - sent by Ninja Cat Is Stalking You**

**Daisy Sasori - sent by Phooka-Chan**

**Liana Josephine Richards - sent by Patty Loves Giraffes**

**So again thanks for all the amazing OC's I'll do my best to do everyone justice, and as long as the creators are happy, I'll try to use every character sent as a side character at some point. So I hope you guys enjoy reading the first chapter.**

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Chapter 1: Outbreak

_What the hell is going on! _Ryou thought as he was pushed through corridors by the masses of screaming students, the whole school had been thrust into chaos and pulled Ryou along with it. He watched as everyone ran screaming, friends fighting friends. Everything was falling to shit.

5 minutes earlier

Ryou sat in the back of his classroom, headphones blasting music into his ears. It was a normal day, boring, the same teacher droning on about the same subjects. He scanned the classroom, the familiar faces he had come to recognise, stared blankly at the teacher.

He turned to the window his mind drifting. He hated not being in the same class as his friends. After his family died in a house fire he had lived with his childhood friend, who then introduced him to various people. With no success. He was smiling, almost laughing at his own uselessness when it comes to people, when a scream erupted, and hell broke loose.

Now

He was shoved again as a student ran screaming. Forcing his way to the side of the crowd he stopped. Students rushed past him as more joined the crowd as they poured out of classrooms. Slowly the crowd thinned out as more students fled the corridors and Ryou was left at the back.

Then he saw it, the reason why everyone was running. A student, grey fleshed, white eyed and stumbling towards him a large portion of flesh was clearly missing from his waist, blood spilled out staining the school uniform. A low, rough, groan left his lips and Ryou froze. "The fuck?" He whispered to himself. Watching the boy shuffle down the corridor, bleeding profusely onto the floor.

Ryou watched and waited as they came closer, the clunky boots it wore scraped along the tile flooring. Closer, closer and closer, Ryou held his breath, he didn't know how but he knew someone spilling that much blood, shouldn't be moving.

It closed in on him, breathing heavily… it stank. Ryou followed it's every move, it passed by, slowly. Ryou exhaled heavily relaxing after it passed, too soon. It turned and threw itself onto him, jaws snapping at his arm as Ryou tried to force the bloody student off of him. "Bastard!" Ryou said kicking the boy in the chest causing him to roll off. Ryou immediately tried to run but his leg was gripped tightly.

Turning he saw a grey hand wrapped around his leg and quickly forced his foot into the face of the boy, again and again and again. Until it released it's grip lying still on the floor. "Shit!" Ryou said quickly backing off before sprinting.

* * *

Elsewhere, a group of students had made it to the school canteen and were crouched down in the kitchen. The five of them had been cornered by a group of bloody, grey skinned students. "What do we do?" A girl asked the group, "we can't just sit here."

"Search the kitchen, find anything you can use to hurt them." A boy said taking charge. "Do not hesitate to kill them, go for the heads. They aren't human anymore." The group dispersed, opening draws and cupboards to find anything useful.

"Why should I listen to you! I don't even know you, and you don't know me!" One of the girls said, clearly thinking she was one o the most amazing people on earth.

"The name's Kevin Walker. And everyone knows who you are, Sarah Noble, school slut, whore, bitch, whatever. But if you wanna live then listen to me, these things bite people, kill them, and they just get back up as one of _them_. Either do as I say, or go get yourself killed. I won't miss you." Kevin said pulling a sharp 6inch knife out of a draw

The girl named Sarah shut up and went about trying to find her own defences. Kevin continued to search beneath the counter as one of _them _tried to climb over the top. The thing gripped him by his t-shirt. He twisted round tearing the neck line of his top and quickly stabbed it in the eye. It went still for a moment, he was about to go back to his business when he was jolted and once again being pulled back by one of _them._ Before he could react, a fire extinguisher was brought down, crushing it's skull with a dull thud.

"Thanks." He said wiping some of his mid-length black hair away from his eyes. "Ummm…" He said trying to place a name to the black haired girl who saved him.

"Liana Richards, my name's Liana." She responded with a light smile. "Good to meet you Kevin." She held out her hand for him to shake but they were quickly interrupted by a shrill scream. They both turned to the kitchen door. _They_ were breaking in and one had already torn into Sarah's flesh. Blood squirting out of her shoulder, covering the floor and her clothes. "HELP!" She screeched.

"There's no helping you once you're bitten." Another boy said, a girl clutched onto his arm, clearly his girlfriend. "Sorry but you're as good as dead now." The couple along with Kevin and Liana scrambled their way out of the kitchen over the counter and began to run.

Distantly behind them, through the monotone groans of undead they could hear Sarah screaming about still being saved. "Is there no way we can help her?" The girl from the couple asked.

"No." Kevin responded. "I said before, if you get bit, you die, then you come back as _them._ Like zombies." He said to put it simply. "If we try to help she'll just come back and bite us, or what's let of her will."

"That's… grim." The boy said attempting to make a joke, with a nervous laugh.

"Not funny." Liana said shutting him up.

"Where to now?" Kevin said looking around. "We have to get out of here but all the doors and locked!" He said roughly trying to open a door to the school grounds.

"The fire escape, they're never locked and lead straight to the ground. We need to get to the fourth floor." Liana answered him. Kevin nodded in approval. However before they could move, the boy from the couple was bit. Blood splashed over the whole group from head to toe as his neck was split open.

"NOOOO!" The girl screamed, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"Come on quickly!" Kevin yelled. Grabbing her arm.

"I'm not leaving him, I can't." She said falling to her knees beside the already dead boy.

"Shit! Liana come on." Kevin said frustrated.

"We have to help!" Liana shouted at him.

"We can't we have to go." Kevin pleaded wanting at least one person to survive. "Maybe we can get a good distance away while _they_ are feasting on them."

Liana didn't respond, she merely looked at the blood splattered tiles before nodding and following Kevin out of the canteen.

* * *

On the roof an 18 year old boy had ran to escape the zombies, now with no way out. "Dammit!" He said looking over the roofs edge. The ground was littered with corpses, some walking, some torn beyond recognition. "I might be sick." He said backing away from the edge. He had blocked the roof door and there was no other way down.

He pulled out his phone and tried to contact his best friend. It rang, with each ring he began to doubt more and more that his friend was alive. Just as he was about to drop the phone he heard "Carlos? Carlos where are you!" His friend had picked up.

"On the roof, I'm trapped there's no way down and I can hear them against the door." Carlos quickly explained.

"Okay. I found a guy to help me out, we're coming to get you so stay put." His friend finished, hanging up the phone.

Carlos looked around nervously, with nothing to do but wait, he began searching the roof for anything he could potentially use as a weapon.

On the other end of the phone his friend, Andrew gripped a pipe tightly in his hands, he had already dealt with more than a couple of the undead. "Thomas." We have to get my friend, he's on the roof.

The slightly taller boy named Thomas nodded, "This way." He said starting to run. He lead Andrew through corridors avoiding the groups of undead along the way. Having gone to the school for all of their high school lives it didn't take long to reach the stairs to the roof.

"Shit Carlos, how many did you attract." Andrew muttered to himself. _They_ crowded the stairs, some falling back down only to stand up and try again. "How do we get passed?" He asked hoping Tom would have a plan.

"Distraction, they move towards sound." Tom said simply picking up a nearby school bag that had clearly been dropped in a hurry. "Stay quiet." He whispered before tossing the bag down the stairs causing a loud thud or clang every time it hit a new step.

The steps creaked as the gathered horde of corpses shuffled, walked, stumbled, rolled and fell down the stairs in their search for fresh meat to feast on. "Quick let's go!" Andrew said hurrying out onto the stairwell.

"Wait there's still more!" Thomas said trying to pull him back, but it was too late. Andrew was swept away in the tide of grey bodies. If _they_ didn't kill him, the fall down the stairs would. "Shit!" Thomas cursed, he didn't even know the guy that well but still, seeing someone die isn't easy.. After waiting to make sure every last one of them had gone he headed up the stairs.

Slowly and quietly he crept his way towards the rooftop door. He tried to push it open but couldn't, at least whoever this Carlos guy was, at least he was smart enough to build a barricade.

He pushed against the door with his full force but to no avail, he had to get Carlos' attention somehow. "Carlos!" He called but there was no response… He banged on the door, he had to. He knew they'd be coming for him and he only had a limited amount of time. "Let me in! I'm trying to help." He heard a shifting noise from the other side of the door. Slowly the door creaked open. Thomas wasted no time in grabbing Carlos and dragging him back down the stairs to an empty corridor before the soulless, groan of _them_ could get any closer.

"Who are you? Where's Andrew?" Carlos asked, not recognising the tall, brown haired boy who saved him.

"Thomas Commandan, Andrew died on the way here, sorry." Tom said, seeing the face of the stranger fall into sadness. "Come on, he died saving you. The least we can do is get out of here."

* * *

In the gym those who had been stuck in P.E classes had ended up surrounded and were bunched in the middle. "Come on Boys! We have to protect the girls!" A boy shouted as he and some other pushed back a few undead but did nothing that would stop them from getting back up.

Not realising, the same boy turned and said, "Now, I am your mighty king! And a great king, needs a queen." He said gripping one of the girls and pulling her close.

The girl tried to wriggle free but this guy was persistent. Until a shoe flew into his face. "Sickening pig!" A girl shouted at him, having thrown the shoe. All the while _they_ slowly closed in further.

"I'll get you, you little bitch!" The stubborn boy said running towards her. Before he could get close, his leg buckled, due to the newly missing chunk of his shin. "FUCK!" He screamed. "Help me, help!" His voice raising an octave as he tried to reach out for the girl to help.

"No… Bitch." She said with a small smirk. Before turning and running, she wasn't stupid enough to try and fight those things without any form of protection. It wasn't long before she had managed to leave the gym.

"Wait!" she heard a voice call after her. She turned to see the girl who had been grabbed following her. "Thank you, for back there." The girl said politely. "Mind if I tag along? I don't think being alone is smart. Not without a weapon." The other girl merely shrugged a response and kept moving. "Soo… what's your name?"

"Alexandra Grimm." She responded, short and terse.

"Nice to meet you Alex, I'm Clementine Akiharo. Let's find a way out of here." Clementine said with a smile. They were already in the Main reception of the school building but all the doors appeared to be locked. On the bright side, there wasn't a single zombie in sight.

"Weapons first. Exit later." Alex said walking off in the general direction of the art and sculpture rooms.

* * *

On the first floor a girl was cornered by a single zombie trying to fight it off with a box. "Get off me!" She screamed pushing it back. There was a crowbar on the floor nearby. He had come in with it when he was bitten. Going to the Nurse's office seemed smart at the time, try to find help. The girl had bandaged the boys arm and told him to rest, how was she supposed to know he would die from such a small wound. Never mind come back and try to tear her apart with his teeth.

She tried to grab for the crowbar but it lunged for her arm and she quickly changed her mind. "What do I do?" She thought, beginning to panic. She looked around finding a glass bottle of pills she smashed it onto the zombies head and it let out a puzzled sounding groan.

Another look around. The crowbar had gone. "Huh?" She muttered confused. Suddenly the thing stopped moving and went completely limp on top of her. Blood spilled from the side of it's head and one eye had popped out. She was drenched in blood, practically from head to toe, as she rolled the body off of her panting, wide eyed.

A boy a year older than her stood with his hand outstretched, crowbar gripped in the other hand. Patches of his white hair showed through the blood stains that covered him. "Come with me." He said pulling her up off of the floor.

"Thank you!" She said grateful that he had came along when he did. "Um, I'm Daisy Sasori."

"Ryou, Ryou Katsu." He responded giving a slight smile and heading to the door.

* * *

**A/N: There is the first chapter, hope you liked it, leave a review letting me know what you think. I personally like it. Group meet up next time. Sayonara.**


	3. Escape

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's the second chapter, sorry for the very long wait but I had my exams and overall just a pretty tough time recently, now they're over I have more time again, still no regular update schedule thingy though. Anyway enjoy.**

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Chapter 2: Escape

"Excuse me? W-Where are we going?" Daisy asked, as she followed Ryou down the school corridors. Luckily none of the things seemed to be around at the minute

"Out" Ryou said without glancing back, his mind was set on escaping.

"How?" She asked quietly.

"Through a door." Ryou said harshly. "Now shush, these things react to sound." He continued moving through the corridors hurriedly. He hadn't planned on trying to help anyone else, merely getting out with his own skin intact. He'd had to sneak by until now, working out that as long as he was quiet he was safe, the things were clearly blind. Now he had a crowbar. Already splattered with one things blood, what did a few more matter.

The two moved silently they had made it to the third floor without detection, only to find it packed with the groaning beasts. White eyes looked there way, flesh lay scattered on the floor, jaws dripped blood with a soft 'pat' as it hit the floor. "Shit." Ryou whispered.

"Can't you take them out?" Daisy asked looking at him, she could clearly see his face now in the sunlight from the window, he was covered in blood, but his icy blue eyes shone through, contrasting the crusted red. His white hair messed up and patched with yet more blood.

"No, the noise from killing one would cause the others to swarm. Do you want me getting killed." He said giving her a glare. He knew he was being harsh but that's just how he was. Looking at her he noticed the strong contrast between her hair and eyes. Jet black hair in pigtails, a bang covering her left eye. Compared to her bright red right eye, and the lighter pink that was visible through gaps in her hair when she moved.

"S-sorry…" She quietly muttered. Ryou sighed, he had planned on heading straight to main entrance but the staircase he was on led to the canteen. Either through those things, risking both his and Daisy's life or down to the canteen. An easy choice. He grabbed Daisy's arm and pulled her down the next flight of stairs. He looked over the banister to see if anything was below them.

Another horde. All clambering over one another to get to something at the second floor corridor. An arm lay on the floor a few meters away. "That's disgusting." Ryou said realising what it was being torn apart below them. "Back up." He said quickly.

"Why?" Daisy said trying to see past him.

"More of them." He elected not to tell her about the body being destroyed only a few feet away, and instead ushered her back up into the entrance of the third floor corridor. "I'll go first." He said passing her. He turned to look down the corridor and froze. A set of bloody teeth hovered inches from his face. He held out a hand signalling Daisy to stop. He quietly and slowly removed his black school jacket, and tossed it past the thing and closed his eyes tightly in fear. If this failed. He'd die.

A thud. He remained still as the rancid breath and rotting stench was strong in front of his face. A shuffle of feet and the smell got weaker. He opened his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. It had gone.

"We need to cross here if we want a way out. Which means getting rid of these guys…" Ryou said turning to Daisy. "Please say you have an idea?"

Daisy shook her head.

* * *

Alex and Clementine were in the ground floor corridor, heading to the art rooms. They had a clear view of the school yard through the windows. It was swarmed with mindless bodies of grey flesh and bloody school uniforms. Leaving without some sort of protection was suicide.

The two girls moved as quick ad quiet as possible, slipping into a classroom with an open door. Bingo. Alex found what she was looking for. She had left her stuff in art before PE. Her bag, skateboard and guitar. It wasn't much but it was something and could do some damage if necessary.

On the other side of the room Clementine had found a hacksaw and a drill. She took them and quickly returned to Alex. The girls were pretty similar. Both with black, layered hair, but Alex's ended with purple tips. Clementine had her bangs swept off to the side whereas Alex allowed them to fall over her right eye. Both a similar height and build. Clementine's eyes were a deep olive green compared to Alex's stormy blue.

"Now what?" Clementine asked, peeking out of the doorway. The corridor wasn't too bad but beyond that… Outside, the reception hallway, the right wing stair case, they were all swarmed and it was only a matter of time before the corridor would be clustered with them too.

"We escape." Alex said calmly.

"But how? We can't go anywhere without having to go through them!" Clementine stated, it was a stupid idea. There was no way they were getting past even with their 'weapons'.

"We get to the staff room." Alex said noticing something outside. "Look, Miss Karly's car is still here, if we can find her keys we can take it." Alex indicated the big dark green people carrier in the car park out front.

"The staff room is behind the receptionists desk, we still have to go through them!" Clementine's voice sounded fearful, she looked to her new found friend searching for any hint of something else. "You can't be serious!" She said. Alex merely looked back and sighed before nodding.

"Let's hurry." She said before leaving the art room with Clem close behind. They snuck back towards the main entrance, every time they looked around there seemed to be at least ten more things around them. "Quiet." Alex whispered as they entered into main entrance.

The room was crowded, compared to just a few minutes ago when there was nothing. Alex couldn't help but wonder where they had all come from. She snuck through the crowd, bending in between the grey bodies. The floor was wet with blood, no matter how hard she tried to keep silent, every step resulted in a soft splash of blood.

She made her way behind the receptionist desk and tried the staff door. Locked. "Shit." She cursed under her breath. Clementine had reached the desk too and immediately guessed the problem.

"The key will be here somewhere, just look around." Clementine said starting to rummage through the desk. The two girls opened drawers and swiped files of shelves until they found what they were looking for. "Got it!" Clem exclaimed.

Neither of them had heard the shuffling, the ever so slightly louder groans, the bump on the desk. Clem stood up and rose her head. There inches from her face were the stretched jaws of one of them. She froze staring straight into fully white and bloodshot eyes. And screamed.

"SHIT! Clementine!" Alex yelled dragging her back as all of them in the room, turned to look at them. "Keys!" Alex said, Clem gave them to her and Alex quickly began trying to find the right one. "Keep them off of us."

Clem pulled out the drill she had obtained in the art room and shakily thrust in the direction of the closest one. Dark congealed blood slowly dripped out of the wound, splashing into a puddle on the ground. She had got it's heart area and the thing stopped… momentarily. It quickly began grappling for her as she desperately tried to get the drill back but it was stuck. "Alex?" She said panicked.

"Give me a minute!" Alex was getting frustrated. "How many fucking keys does a school need!" She cursed as another one failed to fit the lock. Clementine had resorted to the hacksaw, though it's awkward shape only gave limited opportunities. She managed to bring it down on the head of the one with the drill still in it's chest. It dropped dead at her feet.

Click. The door opened. "Clem!" Alex said grabbing her new friends arm and pulling her into the room slamming the door behind them.

A smash was heard. It was pretty far off on one of the above floors but it was loud. The pounding of bodies of the staff room door slowly dissipated into nothing. Whatever the sound was had attracted their attention. "What was that?" Alex asked.

"No idea." Clem responded. "Let's just see if Miss Karly's keys are here and get out." Something was going on. There was clanging and dull thuds echoing throughout the building. Alex rummaged through the desk she knew the English teacher used for doing work after hours, having had to stay behind more than a few times mainly for sleeping in classes. Bingo. "Clem I got them. Let's get out of here."

Clementine went first, slowly pushing the door open. "All clear." Knowing the things couldn't see she took her time knowing to walk quietly. They pushed on the main entrance doors. The things were jammed but not locked. A few pushed later and the doors swung open. The stench of dead rotting flesh was strong in the air. Already flies were beginning to swarm.

Looking around they saw only three things of note. Number one, a LOT of the things. Number two, a mound of _them_ just off to the right of the main entrance. And number three, survivors. Two of them on the far side of the building. Clementine waved for their attention, more people the safer they were. Once the other two had waved back Clem indicated to the car and set off with Alex soon after.

* * *

Carlos and Thomas were stuck on the fourth floor. "How do we get out of here?" Carlos said. They were surrounded and without protection. After running down from the roof the walkers had clambered up the stairs either side of the corridor and surrounded them.

"In here." Thomas said, dodging out of the way of outstretched arms and into a classroom. Slamming the door behind Carlos, Tom quickly pinned it shut with a few desks and chairs. "Search the cupboards and desks. Anything is better than nothing."

Carlos flipped open the first desk he came to and checked inside, pencils, pens, a rubber nothing that could cause damage. There was heavy banging on the door and an endless droning sound. The next desk was no better. Three, four, five. Nothing.

In the mean time Thomas rushed over to the classroom store cupboard and broke the door, lucky the school had crappy doors. Quickly flicking on the light he began his own search for something useful. There was a crack.

Back in the main classroom, Carlos spun around, the door was beginning to give way. A few splinters flew onto the floor as one of _them_ broke a hole in the door, shame the school had crappy doors. A grey fleshy arm protruded from the hole but was replaced moments later by a head missing half it's lower jaw, trying to force it's way in. "They're breaking in!" He called to Tom.

"Hold them off a minute!" Tom responded still searching frantically. Carlos threw a few useless things it's way, somehow getting a pencil stuck in it's eye. Opening another few desks he eventually found something that might be effective. A pen knife. Carlos couldn't help but wonder who would bring a knife to school but silently thanked the now likely dead student anyway.

Running a hand through his jet black scruffy hair to calm himself he walked over to the door and thrust the knife into the things skull. It flopped back and the knife slid out as Carlos gripped onto it. Momentarily he could see the corridor before the gap was covered by another walking corpse, banging insistently on the door. "Ummmm, there's a lot of them out there." Carlos said. "Like a Necrophiliac's heaven."

"That's disgusting." Thomas commented, the store cupboard so far had supplied him with a staple gun which he supposed could stagger them slightly at best.

"Sorry." Carlos apologised. "Now come on and help me here!" Thomas ran to join Carlos. There were multiple arms breaking through the door. Carlos stabbed at one and was grabbed by another. Sharp nails clawed him and tore his sleeve cutting his arm. His dark onyx eyes widened as he felt the pain. He tried to pull his arm free but to no avail.

Tom shot the staple gun, the staple pierced the wrist causing it's grip to slacken off of Carlos. Looks like they still have normal reflexes. "Thanks. Now hold them." Tom's icy eyes widened as Carlos ran away from the door. Tom quickly turned back and shot a few more staples. The arms paused momentarily before continuing to steadily break down the door.

He could hear Carlos doing something but couldn't risk turning to see what in case something went wrong. "Hey, how good's your balance?" Carlos asked from behind him.

"Pretty good… wait what? My balance?" Before Tom could even begin to ask further Carlos responded with "Good, follow me." Tom turned around just in time to see Carlos clambering out of the classroom window. "… The fuck?" He questioned.

Running to the window he saw what Carlos had done. He had taken the shelves out of one of the storage room and planked across from the window to the fire escape stairs down the side of the building. It was lucky they chose this room. Any other room and this wouldn't work. The plank creaked as Carlos crept across it before he dropped down onto the metal stairway.

"Come on, we haven't got all day." Carlos called back. Thomas wiped some sweat from his head, brushing through his brown, buzz cut hair. He climbed onto the plank and began creeping across.

It cracked.

Thomas began to drop halfway from the window to the stairs. Reacting quickly Carlos leant over the edge and managed to firmly grip Thomas's wrist. Carlos began to pull him up and Thomas managed to get a grip on the metal barred fenced and helped pull himself up. "Not my greatest idea." Carlos admitted, looking at the broken planks of wood four floors below them.

"At least we're out. Let's head down." Tom said, breathing heavily, that was far too close to death for comfort.

As they reached the bottom they slid the ladder down to the ground. A loud smash was heard from the front of the building. Bad news. The sounds attracted _them_. Every single one in the back of the school began walking against the school wall trying to find the quickest route to the sound.

A group clustered right beneath the ladder and Tom paused, more risks. He climbed down the ladder till he was just above _their_ heads. Then leapt, luckily he landed on the ground behind the, what could only be classed as a horde. Carlos followed suite and they swiftly began to move around to the front of the building.

They reached the corner of the building and began searching for a way off of school grounds. It was then Carlos noticed the girls waving at them. He waved back and looked to where they were indicating, a dark green car on the other side of the car park. "Come on, it's better than nothing."

* * *

Kevin and Liana were on the first floor. There was a group of _them_ crowding the stairs to the second floor and the other end of the corridor wasn't much better. "Let's scrap the fire escape idea. We'll find a way down to the main entrance and leave that way." Kevin said.

"How do we get down though?" Liana asked. "_They_ are crowding the canteen and there's no way we can make it down the other stairs." She knew it was only a matter of time before they were found.

"Help." There came a soft moan from one of the open doorways. Liana ran over and found a person slumped against the wall. "It got me." He said, Blood dripped down from his arm onto the floor.

"Matt! Come on we'll get you out of here." Liana said lifting him off the floor, Matt was a good friend to her throughout school, he was always there for her.

"Liana, you know you can't help him, he's bitten." Kevin said watching him wearily. The boys arm was missing a large chunk of flesh and limply at his side. The bone was visible and when he moved blood seemed to flow quicker than before. "He'll die."

"We don't know for sure! What if we can cure it, we have to try Kevin." Liana said. "Give me your jacket." Kevin sighed. He knew they were wasting time here, before long he would die and come back as one of _them_. Nevertheless he removed his jacket and handed it over to Liana.

Liana tore the sleeve from the jacket and quickly tied it around the boys arm to stem the blood flow.

"Thank you." He said turning to Liana.

"No problem." She wiped some blood off her hands and headed back into the corridor with Matt. Kevin followed keeping a close eye on Matt. He wouldn't let another person die on his watch.

"How do you plan to get out?" Matt asked Liana as they walked down the corridor.

"The main entrance we just need a way down." Liana answered. They walked to the staircase above the main entrance. "There's too many to walk down unnoticed."

Matt started to cough violently. Blood trickled down his chin as he coughed more splashing blood on the floor. His skin visibly getting paler by the second. "Hang on Matt! We'll get help as soon as we're out of here, just hang on!"

"Liana, the sound's drawing _them_ to us. We can't stay here." Kevin said watching as Liana tried to comfort and quieten Matt.

"We can't leave him! We can't let another person just die!" Liana was crying now. Tears falling down her cheeks from he icy blue eyes. Her long black hair falling in front of her face as she desperately tried to help Matt.

"Liana! If we stay here we'll all die!" Kevin said frustrated. "I'm at least getting you out of here! Matt, I'm sorry, we can't help you but I have to get her out of here."

"How can you be so heartless!" Liana was trying not to scream at him. "How can you just let him die!"

"Liana…" Matt whispered through coughs. "He's right, I'm as good as dead. Please leave, survive for me." Liana was sobbing uncontrollably. She didn't want to lose one of her closest friends. "I'll lead them away, then you go down and escape."

Just as he said this, there was a smash from upstairs. The three of them stayed completely still. All of _them_ began to move up the stairs. Shuffling straight by the trio as they waited. Eventually _they_ stopped coming and they were free to head downstairs.

"Come on Matt. We'll be out soon." Liana said through her tears.

"No, just leave me. I don't want to become one of _them _and hurt you." Matt said. "Kevin, take her and leave. If she dies I'll haunt you forever." He gave a light laugh and Kevin cracked a smile.

He grabbed Liana's hand and pulled her away from Matt, down the stairs and into the main entrance. His emerald green eyes saw something outside. People. Running outside, still pulling Liana along he shouted "WAIT!" The people turned to look at him. Pointed to a car then kept running.

_T_hey were out here, and began slowly shuffling towards where the shout came from. Kevin ducked and dodged between _them_. Making sure he and Liana were both safe. _They_ all converged around the main entrance and within a minute Kevin and Liana reached the car.

"Get in!" A girl shouted from the front seat of the car. Kevin and Liana climbed in to the two seats in the boot as the other two girls and two boys climbed into the other seats.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" A voice screamed from back by the school. All six of them turned to look.

* * *

Back on the third floor Ryou had come up with a plan. "Daisy, stay here." He crept out into the corridor. Crowbar at the ready. He went out as far as he could and walked over to the window. "Here goes nothing." He muttered.

He swung the crowbar as hard as he could at the window. Glass shattered everywhere cutting him and littering the ground outside and in the corridor. The noise was loud. Everything in the school will have heard that.

_They_ began walking towards the sound. He dived out of the way and watched as all of _them_ in the corridor walked out of the window. The toppled down to the ground and there just ceased moving. Clearly the fall was enough to destroy the brains and kill _them_.

The corridor quickly cleared out and Daisy ran out to Ryou. "Are you stupid! _They _could've caught you!" She almost slapped him but before they could do anything else. More walking corpses began to enter from the stairways. Groaning.

"Daisy, stay close to me." Ryou said gripping his crowbar tight. He bashed one over the head as it lunged for him, causing it to fall to the ground. Another tried to grab Daisy but she managed to move out of the way as Ryou caved it's skull in.

A shout from below. Someone was shouting wait. Survivors. Ryou and Daisy were surrounded. "Do you trust me?" Ryou asked.

"What?" Daisy answered, not knowing why he was asking.

"Never mind." Ryou turned to face her and grabbed her round the waist. "Sorry about this." He pulled her close to him and let himself fall through the smashed window.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Daisy screamed. Falling. It seemed to last so long. Ryou was beneath her. It was terrifying. Wind rushed past her and Ryou could do nothing but keep hold of her.

They landed with a dull thump. Her landing on top of Ryou. They had survived it, how? She sat up and looked around. They were on a mound of dead bodies. Grey fleshed and bloody, the ones who had falling from the window after Ryou's plan.

Ryou looked in pain and she quickly got off of him. "Are you okay!" She asked worried.

Ryou nodded holding his ribs, he was anything but okay. But he had to get out of here with Daisy. Standing up he saw the survivors. "To that car." He pointed. "Run, don't stop for anything."

Daisy set off. Ryou followed behind to make sure nothing grabbed her. She made it into the spare seat in the car. Ryou was stumbling due to his ribs but he kept going. _They_ were catching up. He got closer and closer to the car and practically fell on top of Daisy and two others in the middle seats. Whoever was in the drivers seat slammed his foot on the pedal and drove out of the school as quick as he could.

"So who are you guys?" Daisy asked looking around at everyone. "I'm Daisy Sasori. This is Ryou Katsu." She said introducing herself and the white haired boy sprawled across the three in the middle.

"I'm Thomas Commandan." The boy driving said looking at her in the mirror. "Nice to meet you."

"Alexandra Grimm." The girl in the front passenger seat answered next. "Call me Alex."

The next two in the middle by Daisy introduced themselves. "Carlos Balestida." The boy answered with a slight wave.

"Clementine Akihiko." The girl said not sure what to do about the boy lay across her.

The boy in the back introduced himself and the girl next to him who appeared to be sobbing into her jacket. "The name's Kevin Walker, this is Liana Richards."

Thomas spoke up again. "So… where do we go now?" He asked as he drove down a street.

* * *

**A/N: So there you go. I'm glad I managed to make this one quite long and I'm happy with how it turned out. Please leave a review letting me know what you think and anything else you'd like to say. Hopefully with exams over it won't take another month to update, but until next time. Sayonara.**


	4. Home

**A/N: Here be chapter three. It's later than I would've liked but yeah still not having the easiest of times right now and everything. Plus I began writing some other stuff. On top of that I've kind of developed insomnia so my sleeping pattern is majorly screwed. I get one to two hours of sleep a night. Anyway that all aside. I hope you all enjoy this. I think it turned out well.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Destruction

"Does anyone need to go home?" Thomas asked, as they turned down another street.

"Yes." Ryou said from his position in the back seat. His ribs were beginning to ease off and he sat up to see where they were in the city. "It's not too far. Turn left up ahead."

The streets were hectic. Survivors ran for their lives in every direction. Some banging on the doors for help, others just trying to flee with young children in their arms. Cars were on fire, glass from shop windows littered the streets. "What the hell caused all this." Alex mumbled looking out of the window.

"Those things are just like zombies from the movies. They die and come back, then bite you and you become one of them too." Carlos said, as if on cue blood splashed the window as another poor woman was torn into.

"Is the whole city like this?" Clementine asked, the destruction caused already was insane.

"Maybe, the military should be dispatched soon to secure parts and evacuate the city. If not then there's something wrong." Kevin said from his seat in the back. Thomas turned the car, swerving slightly to avoid hitting people.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Daisy asked.

"How? The car's more than full so it's pointless. Trying to be the hero will just get us all killed." Kevin responded.

"Ryou, how far?" Thomas asked driving down the street.

Ryou looked to see where they were. "Next road, number 27." He stated. He was still in the awkward position of lying across Daisy, Clementine and Carlos.

They arrived at the house and Thomas parked the car up front. "Everyone inside, quickly." Thomas said with a glance at the surrounding area. There was a few zombies in the surrounding area but nothing that would cause problems if they were quiet.

It appeared everyone in the city was heading to the main road to try and get out of the city. Screams were heard from the distance and fire's roared throughout the city, smoke rising into the air.

Ryou unlocked the door and walked inside, the others followed and he locked it again behind them. "Block the door." He said slumping onto the sofa in the living room. "Check the rooms as well make sure there's nobody here."

"What about your family?" Carlos asked as he did a quick scan of the kitchen.

"There not my family, I just live here with a friends family instead." Ryou answered lifting up his top to check his ribs. They were already turning a nasty purple colour and he must've cut his side on a piece of broken glass. "Hey, get some bandages from the cupboard." He said afterwards. Ryou flicked on the TV as Carlos handed him some bandages. He began to bandage himself up as the news reader spoke

"There has been some sort of worldwide epidemic, doctors don't know any possible cause or cure as of yet. Police and Military advise you to stay inside and block any doors and windows." The newsreader said, in the background there was a scene of panic, fire, smashed cars, blood and lost entrails and limbs. Of course that was all on a green screen. "The military have set up a checkpoint on both roads out of the city. No survivors are to be admitted through as of yet." The newsreader looked terrified as he finished. "Good luck."

"Good luck?" Thomas said pushing a cabinet in front of the door. "What does he think this is! Some kind of elaborate game!" He looked angry and slammed his fist onto the cabinet.

"That's exactly what it's like though?" Clementine said re-entering the living room from the downstairs bathroom. "It's just like the games my brother plays."

"No." Ryou said winding the bandage around his ribs yet again, making sure they were secure. "This is nothing like a game. This is happening, you get bitten, you die. No respawns, no second chances." He cut the bandage of and tied the ends together.

"Upstairs is clear, looks like we're okay." Alex said coming down the stairs.

"What're we supposed to do now? Do we just wait here?" Daisy asked the group who had now gathered in the living room.

"No." Kevin stated simply. "Look, the noise from the car brought them here, it's only a matter of time before they hear us and break in here. We could stay the night here, if we're lucky then maybe two. But these windows need boarding up." Kevin finished.

"Destroy the beds, you can use the boards for the windows." Ryou answered. "Though there is a problem. We don't have much food, or much in the ways of weaponry." The group all looked at him.

"You led us here, and now you tell us there's no supplies!" Kevin glared at him across the room. "The food we do have won't last long at all between eight of us." It was evident in his voice that he wanted to yell at the white haired teen and if it weren't for the number of undead outside he would have.

"Well none of you proposed anything else did you!" Ryou was glaring back, it was almost as if the two were trying to kill each other through looks.

"Please, calm down." Carlos said trying to keep the mood light. "Waters still working so everyone take a shower and cool off, there should be some clothes around we can wear for the time being." The two teens who had been arguing stopped and looked away from each other.

"Thomas." Ryou said turning to the taller boy. "The walls are thin, go upstairs and break into the next house over, that way we will have more food and such. If there's zombies, kill them." Ryou handed him the crowbar and Thomas nodded. "Carlos, Kevin and I will barricade the windows. Girls can go shower and change if you want."

Ryou headed upstairs with the other two boys and directed them into his friends parents bedroom. "Destroy the bed and see if there's anything useful." He then headed into his own bedroom where Thomas had set to work on trying to break through the wall with the crowbar. Already cracks were showing and it was clear there was no brick between the houses.

"Hey." Ryou said pulling the bed away from the wall.

"This is a nice room you got here." Thomas complimented. Ryou couldn't help but smile, what use was a nice room in this situation. "Do you reckon your friends okay?"

"I didn't see him around school, but I'm sure he's alive." Ryou said. "He's too smart to let himself die. As for his parents I can't say."

"What about your own family? Will they be okay?" Thomas asked him. "Why do you live here not with them?" Ryou's face darkened and he stomped his foot into the bed post causing it to break off from the bed.

"They're dead." He said quietly causing Tom to pause his swing at the wall. "My parents and twin brother died in a house fire when I was eight. My sister was taken by social services and I haven't seen her since." Ryou answered. He felt like crying but instead stomped out another few boards and put them in a pile with the rest.

"Oh… Sorry man." Thomas said quietly turning back to the wall.

"You didn't know." Ryou said plastering a smile onto his face. It was clearly fake no matter how you looked at it but Tom let the conversation slide and went back to breaking down the wall.

Ryou finished breaking the bed down into boards and dumped them in the hallway. "Carlos! Come take these downstairs." He called before turning back into the room and walking to his wardrobe. "I'm gonna get changed." He grabbed a bundle of clothes and walked into an empty upstairs room. He stripped out of his school uniform and put on his favourite outfit of black jeans, a white t-shirt and an open black shirt and a pair of black boots to finish. Finally he went back to his wardrobe and pulled out a long section of bundled cloth.

"What the hell is that?" Tom asked as he broke away another section of wall. Soon he would be able to crawl through.

"Family heirloom." Ryou said removing the cloth. Underneath lay a dark black and blue sheathe containing a shiny katana. "Never really been used but it's about time that changed." He hooked it onto his waist through the belt loop of his jeans and some simple knotted rope.

"An heirloom? What are you descended from samurai?" He said with a small laugh. Ryou laughed too shaking his head.

"Never asked how we got it. I just know it's mine." Ryou walked over to the wall and took back the crowbar. "Take a rest, I'll continue from here."

* * *

Downstairs the girls had all finished taking showers and were chatting to each other while they heard the occasional snap of wood from above. "Sounds like they're busy." Daisy said as another snapping sound echoed through the house.

"Come on, I know there's not much but nobodies eaten since this morning so let's see if we can cook something up." Clementine said walking into the kitchen. The four girl rummaged through the cupboards until they found various tins of food and some meat in the freezer. "Cook the meat, tins can be carried with us."

They set to work cooking the meat, just some bacon and chicken but there was enough for the eight of them. "So do you think we should stay here?" Liana asked them.

"Yes." Daisy spoke up. "Ryou kept me alive in the high school so I trust him."

"But think about, nobody here knows each other well. Ryou and Kevin have already argued." Alex entered the conversation.

"They're boys. They want to appear tough and in control." Clementine said from her spot at the oven, flipping over the bacon. "I'd bet they're just as scared as anybody else."

"Well that's all well and good but it doesn't change the fact that to survive we need to build up trust as a group." Alex responded.

"And we will, over time." Liana said, "You can't force trust immediately so for now we all have to work together to stay alive." Kevin and Carlos came down the stairs with a bunch on boards each and dumped them in the lounge.

"Something smells good." Carlos said walking into the kitchen. "Gotta love bacon." He looked in the pan to see a bunch of bacon and was almost drooling at the prospect of good food.

"Call the other two down and I'll serve it." Daisy said grabbing a spatula and beginning to share the bacon between the plates.

Minutes later Thomas and Ryou came downstairs as the group set about eating. "So any idea of how safe this place is?" Alex asked as the boys sat down.

"After we've eaten Kevin and Carlos board up the downstairs windows. Thomas and I will check out next door when the walls down. Girls find any backpacks or bags and start filling them with supplies." Ryou said quickly. "I think we should get a few hours sleep tonight and move while it's still dark. If we're seen by survivors it could be just as much trouble as _them_." He finished.

"I agree, it sounds smart." Kevin said. "But where would we go? And where the hell did you get that!" He said noticing the sheathed sword attached to Ryou.

"It's a family heirloom and it's better than nothing." He said simply. "As for a destination we should find somewhere more defendable, maybe try to get to the other half of the city. From there we can gather supplies and check up on our families."

The others nodded. It was the closest thing they had to a plan so far and with the number of zombies increasing rapidly they wouldn't be able to stay anywhere for long. There was never any silence. Screams could still be heard from survivors on the roads and running around in the chaos. It must have been about 4pm the sun was beginning to set with it being winter time.

They finished eating and Ryou headed back upstairs with Thomas. "You reckon we can fit through?" Ryou said looking at the reasonably sized hole in the wall.

"Yeah, you first, I'll follow." Thomas said with a mocking gentlemanly bow.

Ryou began to clamber through headfirst. The hole turned out to be more than big enough and he stood brushing dust off of his clothes and making sure he still had his sword with him. He scanned the room as he heard Tom climb through behind him. "Shit."

"What?" Thomas said looking around the room. It was clearly a child's room, a cot stood in one corner and the rooms were a sky blue with a vibrant rainbow painted on. Soft toys strewn all over the floor. It looked like your average child's room.

"Blood." Ryou indicated a spot near the doorway on the floor. The otherwise cream carpet had indeed been stained with blood. "Something must've happened here, which means the zombies might be inside." He whispered. "Keep your guard up."

"But we made so much noise breaking through that wall, any of them would be drawn to this room." Tom responded, even so he still whispered and kept glancing in all directions.

"Can't be too careful." Ryou crept over to the door and pulled it open, stepping out into the hallway. He had visited his neighbours a few times so he knew the layout of their house. "There might be some pills in the bathroom we could take, other than that it'll all be downstairs."

"It's best to stay together, let's check the bathroom first." Thomas said moving forwards.

They snuck through the house and pushed open the door to the bathroom. What should have been white tile were now splattered red. A razor blade lay on the floor in a pool of blood gleaming silver. And a body… a dead body on the ground. A woman roughly mid-forties her eyes had rolled back in her head and her business clothes had been encrusting with the colour of blood. Her face was clean… a smile locked in place and auburn hair draping down onto the floor.

"Mrs Takuna." Ryou muttered, the woman had been his neighbour since he moved here and she had always bean kind. "Suicide. Slit her own throat with the razor." He pulled down the shower curtain and draped it over the dead body. "Pills in the cabinet." He told Tom.

Thomas stuffed his school bag with as many pills as he could find that sounded useful and then left the room to head downstairs with Ryou. They entered the kitchen and both of them almost vomited. One of _them_. Although it couldn't move. It's arm was trapped underneath a toppled dishwasher and it's bottom half was completely missing. Intestines trailed out behind it and blood dripped from it's mouth as it groaned at the duo.

A child's body lay next to it, mangled and torn. Barely recognisable as once human. It must've been the resident of the child's room upstairs. "And this is Mr Takuna. Must've eaten his own baby daughter. Would explain why Mrs Takuna commit suicide." Ryou sighed. "Take all the tins with long sell-by dates from the cupboards. I'll take care of this."

Thomas nodded and patted Ryou on the shoulder. It was obvious this upset him. "You must've been close." Tom muttered only receiving a nod.

Ryou knelt down in front of the undead man. "You were always good to me. Helped when I needed it and I'm sure if you were alive you'd help me now… I'll miss you." He unsheathed his long katana and raised it above Mr Takuna's head, point down. "Goodbye." He thrust the sword through the skull and wiped away the tears he didn't know he had let out.

"Come on." There's nothing else here for us to take." Tom pulled his companion up and they went upstairs and back through the hole. Thomas pulled the wardrobe over to the hole and covered it up just for good measure.

The pair headed downstairs and immediately noticed some changes. The windows were all boarded up and multiple bags had been filled. Daisy and Liana were sleeping on the couches and the others were all sat around talking. It had been a long day and all this had started only a few hours ago. The two boys sat down on the floor as all the seats had been taken. "Keep watch for me." Ryou said to the others and feel asleep right there on the spot.

* * *

**A/N: There we go. As I said at the start I think it turned out well. Leave a review letting me know what you think and I will see you all next time. Sayonara.**


	5. Dark

**A/N: Hey again. Here is chapter 4 of this story and I have to say I am loving writing every minute of it. This and another story I've been writing over on FictionPress are what's keeping me distracted from everything currently. Hope you guys love this chapter as much as I liked writing it.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Dark.

Carlos was on watch. Night had fallen a while back and despite the chaos he knew was outside, the world seem rather quiet. He could see the stars through a crack in the boards on the window. The screams of the day had ceased and if it weren't for the fact he could see _Them_ outside he might have mistaken it all for a bad dream.

All the lights in the house were off and the room was filled with the sound of breathing. He was watching the stars when someone stirred behind him. "Can't sleep?" He asked whoever it was who was awake.

"Nope." He recognised the voice as Liana's. She stood up and came to sit with him by the window.

"Kevin told, me about your friend… I'm sorry." Carlos said, Liana's face saddened in the darkness. She didn't respond for a while and instead just looked out between the boards.

"How did this happen?" She asked. Carlos had no idea how to answer. There was no possible answer after one day.

"Could be anything. A pandemic infection, a bio-weaponry experiment gone wrong." Carlos said, "It doesn't matter how. What's done is done and nobody is safe anymore." There was no other way to put it.

"Aren't you scared?" Liana asked, her eyes were locked on a limping figure across the street. No bigger than an elementary school child.

"Of _Them_?" Carlos asked with a slight smirk. "More than I'm willing to admit. My friend died in the school trying to get to me." He sighed.

Liana next to him began to shiver, it wasn't exactly a warm night. Shedding a jacket he had taken from upstairs he wrapped it around Liana and put his arm around her. "We're gonna survive."

"I hope so." Liana said snuggling closer to him for warmth. "Do you think they know we're here?"

"Yeah. I think they're like blind dogs. They can probably smell us." Carlos said as another undead corpse passed their view. "It's only a matter of time." Carlos rubbed his eye with yawn. He had been up for the past two hours and it was getting to him.

"Get some sleep, I'll keep watch for a while." Liana said, Carlos nodded and stood up walking over towards the empty couch Liana had vacated. He stumbled, his hip knocked against something in the dark. Carlos froze.

Something smashed. Within minutes Carlos was yelling in pain, the lights were flicked on and everyone was up. He had knocked a vase off a cabinet which had then smashed on the floor by his foot embedding bit of pottery into his leg.

"Carlos you okay?!" Liana yelped seeing the blood pouring from his leg.

"Fine." He grunted pulling the pottery out. "Look outside… _they _heard that! Grab the bags and anything essential, we gotta move." Some zombies were already at the door, bashing against it with fists and feet shaking the barricade on the inside.

Kevin and Thomas shouldered a bag each and tossed the third over to Ryou who caught it from his position at the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"To distract them!" Ryou said everyone turned to look at him shocked. "Face it, we can't get out with _them _surrounding us, and we've got to stop running at some point!" He paused. "Run from here, don't stay anywhere too long." Ryou then ran upstairs and the others continued to grab the bags they had filled with supplies and other things.

Daisy followed Ryou upstairs and into his room where the boy had attached his sword to his waist. Pulled some headphones around his neck and was about to climb out the window. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm going to climb onto the roof. Walk along, climb down behind them and attract their attention." Ryou said perfectly simply.

"It's suicide!" Daisy said shocked grabbing his arm. "Please don't go, we're gonna need you."

"Relax, in 30 minutes you'll see me again… just slightly redder." He gave a nervous laugh. "If anything goes wrong and I get swamped, I'll escape." He saw he face drop and he rubbed the back of his head. "But I'll definitely come back for you. I promise."

"You can't promise that in this situation." Daisy said, since Ryou had helped her she had felt safe with him and the group around. If they lose people how would she feel then?

Ryou hugged her close to him. "I'll see you soon. Bye." And with that he left his window using the drainpipe to climb his way up onto the roof, hoisting himself up onto the tiles.

"Bye." Daisy whispered into the empty room before heading back downstairs. "He's gone. I couldn't stop him. He said he'll find us again." She told the group. Clementine was bandaging Carlos' leg while Thomas and Kevin tried they're hardest to prevent the barricade from failing.

"He better hurry up. We ain't got all day!" Kevin grunted as he pushed his full weight back against the door.

* * *

One the roof Ryou clicked play on his iPod listening to the music blast down his ears. The song 'dead bite' by Hollywood undead came on. "Just perfect." He said sarcastically before making his way along the roofs. Luckily they were those flat kind so he didn't have to worry about his footing.

Looking over the edge he saw the large group of corpses at the doors and windows of his house. "Could be worse." He sighed. There wasn't too many of them but if he somehow got surrounded he'd be screwed. From here his view of the city was amazing, or it would have been if it weren't for the bustling lights of what he could only assume were survivors trying to cross the bridge. Smoke still enveloped parts of the city though the initial fires and chaos was starting to lessen.

He watched a couple of people run down the street behind the houses he stood on, and straight into _them_. He remained silent as the human screams were cut short by their untimely deaths. "I guess chaos still reigns." He muttered to himself. All that he could think of as he hurried along the roofs some more was that there must be more people nearby. There was no way everybody was at the bridge or had even tried to escape. How many of the houses were full of people scared to death. How many people were happy to sit and watch while he tried to save his friends.

He dropped over a ledge when he reach a clear point in the road and began to try and scale his way down the building. He slipped more than once but managed to hold on to the drainpipe and window ledges until he softly dropped himself onto the ground. His ribs objected to his excessive movement but he ignored it and ran out into the road.

"OI!" He yelled at the top of voice. Some undead turned to his direction but not all of them. What surprised him more were the lights that flickered on inside some of the houses. "COME GET ME BASTARDS!" More lights. More undead. It appears everyone else on the road had been too scared to leave and were taking this opportunity. Not enough were coming for him yet. He bent down and picked up a rock as the first of the zombies began to approach at a slightly quicker pace.

He tossed the rock smashing a car window activating the alarm. Every head on the street turned to him, dead or alive. "That's right bitches." He drew his sword and chopped off the head of the first undead bastard to reach him.

* * *

Back in the house, Alex pushed against the barricade with Kevin while Thomas swiped at the arms that were breaking between the boards in the windows. "What's taking so long!" Kevin said as he was bounced away from the door only to push right back against it.

They heard a shout from outside and then another. The voice of Ryou rang down the street and Thomas saw lights come one across the street. "We're not the only survivors on this street." He said.

"Who cares." Carlos said limping over to the door to help. "They aren't helping us so we won't help them. Ryou will attract enough for them to run as well anyway." He reasoned. Nobody objected.

"Well shouting's not enough, he better do something more." Liana pointed out as only a few zombies left the group. Then the car alarm sounded. The arms withdrew from the windows and the door stopped banging.

"They're leaving." Thomas observed. "Now's our chance, shift that and let's get out of here." He said pointing to the barricade and beginning to move the bookcase with Kevin.

A few moments later and the door was open, all the zombies were crowding in one area and survivors from the street were already running in the opposite direction. Not a single person ran to the aid of the person risking his life for everyone. Daisy spotted him through the mass of grey in the dark night. His white hair stood out as he spun with his blade. The group all saw him too and after a moment of eye contact ran in the other direction as well.

They just ran, not bothering to find a car, not bothering to look where they were headed. They just needed safety, Carlos limped behind them due to his leg and Thomas took the lead with the crowbar. Somewhere, anywhere would do, where they could perhaps find some weapons and wait out the night. "Any ideas?" Clementine asked as they continued running.

"I think there's a gun shop nearby." Alex said, "I don't know for sure though."

"It's better than nothing." Kevin said turning a corner at the end of the street. The street lamps flickered on and off every so often. The roads were mostly only illuminated by the lights of the stars. Kevin pulled a jacket out of a bag and wrapped himself in it. The brisk air caused the group to stay close as to keep warmer and they moved along at a slow albeit steady peace.

"Can anybody hear that?" Thomas asked, as a rumbling echoed around the city. Looking up clouds began to roll over the sky, not smoke but large masses of black storm clouds. "There's a storm coming, we need to get inside now." He said picking up the pace. He pulled out a flashlight they had obtained at Ryou's as it started to become pitch black.

Rain began to fall, splashing on the ground, the group slung coats over themselves and hurried through the rain. Within seconds it was pouring, and thunder rumbled throughout the sky. Their feet splashed in puddles as they ran and the zombies that had previously remained calm and still began to move every direction trying to figure out the source of the noise all around them.

"Fucking idiots, aren't they." Carlos mumbled as they moved, their footsteps didn't seem to attract any attention but he still spoke quietly.

"It's pitiful. That could be us Carlos! They aren't human anymore." Alex said as they entered what appeared to be a large industrial estate. "In there!" She said so she could be heard over the thunderclap. They ran in the direction Alex pointed at and ended up inside a large hangar that must've been used as a material storage unit.

"Find the controls, shut the door we'll wait here tonight." Kevin said shedding his wet coat and dropping the bag on the floor.

Heading over to the wall Tom pushed the control panel buttons until the large iron gate began to lower. Until it dropped suddenly, slamming with a thud on the floor and the controls let out a few sparks. "SHIT!" He said, waving his electric shocked hand in the air. "The powers short circuited. We won't be able to get that open again." He said slamming his fist angrily on the wall. "Can't we catch a fucking break!"

"Ummm I hate to tell you guys this…" Clementine began. "But the back door's blocked and there's no other ways out." All the faces in the room turned to her, Kevin looked like he was about to punch something. Carlos and Tom exchanged glances both probably trying to think of a new move, Liana was slumped over by the bags looking too tired to do much, Alex stopped looking through boxes and just stared wide-eyed and Daisy looked terrified.

"S-so, we're stuck here?" Daisy asked as if to confirm what they already knew.

"On the bright side, we got lights, they're on a different circuit by the looks of it so maybe we can reroute power to the door?" Carlos said as he flicked on the hangar lights. Boxes were stacked high around the edges, a metal walkway made a second floor above them and various bits of machinery lay around the room. "It will take a while and we need to remove this panelling from the wall but it's the best shot we've got right now."

"Right, Carlos and Tom work on that. Clem, Daisy search for anything to make a fire to keep us warm, there must be something in these boxes. Alex, Liana and I will search for anything we can use as weapons and sweep the building for any of _them_." Kevin said.

The group nodded and set about their various tasks.

* * *

Back out in the rain. Ryou fought hard to keep himself alive. The car alarm must've attracted everything from the next few streets over as well and now he was slowly but surely being swarmed. He panted as he splashed another load of blood onto the ground where it mixed with the rain water. His clothes were soaked through causing his movements to become sluggish and he was losing energy.

But he laughed.

He laughed, as limbs were separated from bodies, as fresh blood sprayed his face and body warming his cold skin, as he felt his sword cut though bone. "You're in my way fucker!" He said planting his foot in one's face breaking out of the circle forming around him.

He moved backwards, almost as though he was dancing. He had no idea where his group had gone or where he would look for them. He just wanted to survive. And he needed help desperately. He was by no means an expert with his katana. He just swung wildly in the direction of the undead. Multiple times he had narrowly escaped being bitten and he had obtained multiple cuts and bruises from the fight.

"COME ON! BRING IT BITCHES!" He raged violently, losing himself in the chaos of the bloodshed. Some people just take to the danger in situations like this and Ryou was just like them. He enjoyed every minute, adrenaline rushing through his veins. His laugh boomed over the rain and he ran back a few steps as to give himself more room. "ANYONE WANNA JOIN THE PARTY!" He had seen multiple survivors run past and had taken no caution in insulting anyone who thought him crazy or didn't pause to help.

Which is why he was surprised when an arrow scratched his cheek and pierced the skull of the grey fleshed corpse in front of him. "You're gonna get killed." He heard a quiet female voice say.

"Nice of you to join me then." He laughed. Normally he wouldn't be so open to strangers but the bloodshed did something to him. The girl looked at him wide-eyed. She hadn't meant to stay and help, but to try and get him out of their.

"Who are you?" The girl asked cautiously.

"The name's Ryou Katsu, and you?" He said cutting through another lump of flesh and bone, splashing the newcomer in blood as well as himself.

"I'm Skye… Minnos." She said shooting another zombie in the head. "Can we please leave here I don't wanna die just yet. I have a safe place nearby."

Ryou coming back to himself now he had someone else to protect nodded and happily followed the dark brown haired girl. The two ran for what felt like an hour in the thunder and lightning before Skye ducked underneath a wire fence signalling Ryou to follow.

It was an old rundown building which looked anything but 'safe'. "Come on, you're hurt." Skye said as they entered the building which had been very effectively boarded up… perhaps it wasn't too bad.

Ryou stripped off his shirt, revealing his now soaked bandages from his ribs along with an array of new cuts that continued to bleed. Skye had a medical kit to hand and began removing the wet bandages. As the adrenaline faded Ryou became more aware of the pains and the fact that he was now in the care of a total stranger and could be killed at any minute.

"Why'd you help." He asked with a grunt of pain.

"I can't watch a person die in silence." Skye answered wiping some blood of him and drying him down with a towel. "No matter how stupid they are."

Ryou smirked. Looking at the girl who saved him, she was pretty, shoulder length dark brown hair that looked jet black in the light, and one pale blue-green eye while the other was milky and obviously blind. She had a scar from the right corner of her nose to her eye and one from her left ear leading down to her back.

"Just so you know, I'm not normally like this." Ryou said trying to look less like a fool than he did.

"Well neither am I, but there's something about you." She said with a slight smile. "Are you alone?"

"I have a group-" He answered. "I was helping them escaped the house we were

trapped in. As soon as I can I need to find them." Skye nodded in understanding. Ryou splashed water from a bowl onto his face and wiped blood out of his hair for the second time since the outbreak. "So where you from?"

"Other side of town." She answered.

"You wanna come with me?" Ryou asked, the more the merrier he figured.

"I have to head back to my family." Skye responded somewhat sadly. "I guess we'll be parting ways soon.

"For a time." Ryou answered. "Eventually I'll find my friends and head that way to so we'll definitely meet again, in a safe place where we can get to know each other." Skye smiled at him. "I promise."

Ryou couldn't help but curse himself inside, he had made two promises today he wasn't sure he could keep anymore. He was unsure of himself since he had lost himself. How could he lose control in such a dangerous situation. And to make such a promise with a girl he had just met. Was it that she saved him, or was there something about her. Either way he wanted her to be safe as much as he wished for his own groups safety.

"Look, it's really late and you need rest." Skye said finished bandaging Ryou's more severe wounds. "Rest here with me tonight and in the morning we'll see what it's like."

Ryou nodded and followed Skye over to a makeshift bed from old cushions and quilts. "Sorry but it's warmer together." He said, avoiding eye contact. "Goodnight."

"Night." Skye said back.

* * *

**A/N: So there you go! I really, really, really like Skye tbh so tell me what you think of her? She won't be joining the main group but I was thinking, I might do one off chapters for the side-characters that I use so you know what happens after their part in the main groups story so let me know what you think of that!**

**Big thanks to anybody who reviewed, you guys really keep me motivated right now and an especially big thanks to lalalandfire7 who sent me the OC Skye. **

**Leave a review letting me your thoughts and to persuade me to write more sooner. See you all soon. Sayonara.**


	6. Remember Me

**A/N: Okay so this was supposed to be done weeks ago but I have reasons. First of all the t, u, p, q and j keys don't work on my laptop anymore so I have to use alt codes to type them out which is very awkward. Secondly and more importantly, i have broken my hand so tying is even harder again, so I'm sorry for the very long wait but this took me ages to finish due to those reasons.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Remember me.

Ryou woke up in the morning, head pounding, freezing cold, and confused. Skye wasn't around for some reason or another and Ryou couldn't move without his head feeling like it had been smashed in one too many times with a golf club. He sat up and observed his surroundings in the daylight that was breaking in through the rundown walls.

Planks of wood scattered around, dust practically everywhere, a few loose nails. His clothes were still wet and despite the sunlight, the rain hadn't let up at all. He opened the backpack he had been given the day before and rummaged through for anything to eat. In the end he settled on having some supposedly 'nutritional' cereal bar that had been thrown in with the other foods.

Most of his minor cuts had begun to heal over quite nicely, others still had bloodstained bandages wrapped around them and he didn't dare remove them just yet. "Skye!" He called out. There was no response from anywhere and he shuffled his way over to the window. The fight he had took it's toll and he felt pathetic as he slumped against the wall.

It was officially the second day of the outbreak… and nothing was looking any better. More smoke, in closer places. It appears after his stunt the previous night everyone in the neighbourhood had tried to escape. The majority had failed. Crashed cars, broken glass, litter strewn across the road. He could even see a dead body that hadn't turned meaning they had been murdered by someone else alive.

He pulled his bag to him again and searched through for his phone. Opening the contacts screen he scrolled down. There must be someone he could call, nobody in the group but surely someone must still be alive.

Abby. Nothing, just a dead tone and a voicemail service.

Dune. More silence, the voicemail lady began to talk again and Ryou cancelled the called.

Nero. It rang, once, twice, a third time. The ringing continued, somewhere Nero's phone was ringing but there was no response and eventually the voicemail began again.

Jordan. The ringing began. The ringing stopped "Hello? Who is this, I found this phone. Can you help us we're trapped!" The phone on the other end beeped before Ryou could respond and once again he was left in silence.

Raen for sure would be alive! Ryou pressed call… and there was nothing. "Dammit Raen!" He yelled tossing his phone to the floor in anger where the battery flew out on contact. He replaced it and checked it still worked just in case it would be useful. After establishing that he shoved it unceremoniously into his bag and slumped bag down again.

Ryou breathed heavily and heard a floorboard creak in the next room. Skye walked in with a bag on her back. "Morning sleepy." She said dropping the bag to the floor. "There's dry clothes in there, get changed before you get a fever." Skye said.

"You scared me." Ryou said stripping off his top and dumping them in a pile. He opened the bag and pulled out the collection of clothes. Pulling out a pair of dark black jeans he slipped out of his own and into the new ones, before pulling on a sleeveless white top and a long dark black trench coat that reached to the floor to keep him dry.

"You don't seem like the type to get scared." Skye said, looking away while Ryou changed.

Ryou scoffed, "Everyone get's scared." He said, "They're just too scared to admit they're scared." He laughed slightly. "What're you scared of?" He asked Skye who looked away shyly.

"The monsters. Not the dead. The ones who can kill a living person." She said, it was obvious she had witnessed something but Ryou didn't pry any further. "You?"

"Being alone." He said. "I don't want to lose everyone to whatever's caused this."

"I suppose you'll be leaving to find your friends then now?" Skye said, twiddling her fingers waiting for an answer.

Ryou sighed. "Yep… though I have no idea where to look." He looped his sword onto his belt strap again where it rested and hitched his bag over his shoulder. "Thanks for helping out yesterday, I owe you big time."

"Here, I found these!" Skye said handing him a red tube with a string attached to one end. "It's a flare. If I ever need you, I'll set one off and vice versa."

Ryou nodded. "Thanks again." He said, he couldn't help but want to stay with the girl. The apocalypse made people bond in different ways and Skye felt important to him after such a short time. "I'll see you again." He pulled a ring from his finger and handed it to her. "I'll want that back some day." He laughed. "Remember me."

With that he turned to leave but not before Skye unexpectedly hugged him around the waist and whispered a goodbye. Ryou left the way he entered during the night and pulled up the hood of the trench coat over his hair. Then walked out into the rain, alone.

* * *

"FUCK!" Carlos yelled as he jumped back from the wall waving his hand. That was his fifth electric shock since he began working on trying to reroute power to the door. Corrugated iron panels lay a few feet away on the floor and the wall had exposed wires sticking out in all directions. The casings of wires were cut back leaving ends exposed but no matter how many combinations of wires Carlos tried rejoining all he received were sparks and electric shocks.

"Just give up." Liana said quietly from a pile of boxes. They had been searching all night in teams and hadn't even gotten through half the boxes. They had however found a substantial amount of potentially useful items. Metal posts, carving knives, crowbars, bats, a long pole that must've been part of a vehicle of sorts. Nothing of major excitement but they could at least protect themselves more now.

"How else are we gonna get out!" Carlos snapped back. His frustration was evident but even so he tossed down the wire cutters he found and slumped onto the floor.

Up on the metal walkways, Thomas was looking down on the group from above. He had found nothing useful at all, only a few small windows that led to nothing but sheer drops that would surely break their legs at least. The big room was cold so he pulled his newfound woollen jacket around him. The warehouse had everything except real weapons and a way out.

"Kevin!" He called down, "You got anything?" Kevin had been searching the walls for any weak spots and stopped when he heard the shout.

"Sure, double plated corrugated iron with steel beams is weak, right!" He shouted back up, his voice laced with sarcasm. "Of course not!" He said afterwards.

At that precise moment, things could've gone much worse and much better at the same time. What took just a few minutes felt like it lasted an hour. A screech was heard from outside the warehouse and moments later a bus crashed in through the wall mere inches from where Alex and Clem sat sorting through boxes.

The wall collapsed around the bus causing the walkways which Tom was on to break and snap, swinging down with Tom hanging on to a bar for his life. Carlos and Kevin sprang into action making sure everyone else was a safe way from the bus before moving as many boxes filled with soft items to beneath Thomas.

Before they could finish, undead began pouring out from the burning bus. The stench of burning flesh filled the air and _they_ groaned as they moved in towards the girls. "FUCK OFF!" Alex shouted slamming down a metal rod onto one's head. Which resulted in a resounding crack, popping eyeballs an a substantial amount of blood.

A few moments later Tom fell and luckily survived the fall with minimal pain. He sprang back to his feet tossing his crowbar through the air to hit another zombie in the head, splashing bits of brain onto the floor.

"Let's go!" He said to the other two males. "Time to step up I guess." Tom grabbed another crowbar from their collected pile and ran into the fray of burning bodies. He swiped his arm and felt the impact of metal on skull vibrate through his arm. Luckily the bus was nowhere near full so the situation could've been over ten times worse. Slowly but surely they managed to take out the walking bags of bones that no longer had a shred of humanity. Those that didn't have their skulls bashed in repeatedly eventually burnt to death, meaning fire could still be useful.

Sweat dripped from the groups foreheads and the heat in the warehouse had become unbearable. Embers died down but the rotting smell was going nowhere. "Come on, let's get out of here." Daisy said speaking up, she lead the group over to the bus and stepped inside. "If we destroy the back window, we can get out and try to find Ryou, he will have escaped by now."

Nobody spoke up. They all had seen the horde surround him and knew that his chances of survival were minimal but nobody had the courage to say it aloud. They smashed the back window and each climbed out dropping onto the concrete. It was daylight, there was still rain but it was stopping. "Where do we go?" Liana asked. Glances were exchanged between them.

"Let's just find that gun shop Alex mentioned." Kevin sighed. He wasn't sure what the best plan of action was but he knew they couldn't find at close range forever, they'd need projectile weapons and a gun shop was there best bet.

* * *

**A/N: Okay I know it's short, please don't murder me for it. As I said it's extremely hard and painful to type but I really wanted to get this out for you so yeah this is the best I can do right now. Once again sorry but I hope this was a good standard and don't expect any updates for at least 3 weeks due to my hand. Byeee.**


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